Self-harm – physically hurting yourself – is common in young people, affecting about one in five teens by the age of 18.
Only about one in eight self-harm episodes in teenagers are seen at hospital emergency departments. However, attending hospital for self-harm is one of the strongest risk factors for future suicide.
In our newly published study, we identified some of the risk factors for self-harm by combining information from hospital assessments with other sources of information, such as school attendance, special educational needs and free school meal status. Bringing sources of information which relate to the same individual together in this way is is called data linkage. It is a powerful tool to maximise the value of public health data.
